Free The Corpse with the Silver Tongue by Cathy Ace Page B

making.
    â€œThe Romans, like Julius Caesar, and the Greeks who wrote about the Druids and their rituals, had their own political agenda: they demonized them, so we are not sure about the real life of the Druids at all. We do know, however, that on what is now called the Island of Anglesey, yes, in Wales —” he nodded graciously and smiled again, “there was a stronghold for the Druids, and the Second Augustinian Legion was sent there to break them, early in the first century AD . It was very a difficult time for the people on that island, and the Druids never forgot the brutality of this particular legion. Thus, it is said, the Druids made it their particular mission to defeat the Second Augustinian Legion by a process of attrition: they plotted and planned many of the raids on the legion that took place over the next hundred years or so. Indeed, many of the battles with this particular legion were seen as ‘holy battles’ by those opposing the Roman occupation, their efforts being blessed by the Druids, and the Romans being cursed. For example, we believe that the Druids supported Boudica in her famous confrontations with the Romans, which the Second Augustinian Legion eventually won.”
    Ah—Boudica! Good old Boudica! I’d read a lot about Boudica, or Boadecia as she’d been called when I was at school, because I loved the idea of a strong woman fighting and sometimes defeating an overwhelming enemy. I grew up in a poor household (you never know if you’re poor or rich when you’re little, do you—however you live, it’s just ‘normal’) where library books had been about the only thing I could have as many of as I liked, because they were free. I took full advantage. And so it went for the rest of my life, which, given my apparently unusual memory and my voracious appetite for knowledge, has led to my possessing a wide, if eclectic, range of knowledge gleaned from books. Unfortunately, quite a lot of my so-called knowledge has since proved to be completely wrong, because of new discoveries or reinterpretations of existing evidence. It can be confusing, especially when you’re talking to an expert with up-to-date knowledge on the topic.
    Rather than launch into an enthusiastic conversation about my childhood heroine, I thought I’d just let Beni get on with his story and not side-track him. I might discover that Boudica wasn’t that wonderful after all; we all want our memories of our heroes to remain unsullied, don’t we?
    â€œThe letter referred to in the archive tells the story of such a ‘holy battle,’ and it seems it was a very bloody one. Many Romans were killed as they slept in what the locals believed was a sacred grove. Somehow the wine the soldiers drank had been drugged. The Druids were believed to be masters of mixing potions. They were the members of society who possessed knowledge about plants and herbs, and how they could be used to help or harm humans and animals, and drugging enemies was a popular method used to undermine forces. So this rings true.
    â€œThe soldiers could not fight back, their limbs were too heavy. Only those who had not drunk the wine the night before could fight back—or take flight to save themselves. This is what the letter-writer did, much to his shame. He wrote to his brother that it was this shame at having left his fellow soldiers that made him take vengeance on the first person he saw after he had fled the site of the massacre. He encountered a young woman who was bathing in a stream by moonlight, and singing. He was angered that she should be doing something so idyllic while his comrades lay dead and dying, so he attacked her, without warning or provocation. He wrote that he regretted his actions as soon as he drew his sword from her flesh. She lay dying in his arms, and, as he tried to staunch her blood, she begged him, in his own language, to cut off her head when she died and throw